Vacation - Part 2 - The GRAND Canyon

Our vacation continues... but we have a problem. My dad can't acclimate to the altitude (over 5,500 feet in Williams, AZ where we were staying). So after the 1st day, watching him try to breathe with such difficulty Mom and Dad decided the next morning that they needed to get him back to California ASAP! It was a difficult decision, but Dad was much easier once they got him past Phoenix down to 2,000 feet. It was not a good morning for us and I was a little bit lost, clinging to my notebook of plans that had disintegrated.

My Mom and Dad advised me to push ahead to visit Mom & Dad Denson in Tucson arriving a few days early, but there was NO WAY I was getting this close and not going to the Grand Canyon. So we decided to make a 1-day trip to the Grand Canyon and then head to Tucson the next day.
I thought we'd just hop one tram, see the rim from 1 or 2 points and then head back to Williams. I certainly didn't think we could do all of the activities I had planned for 4 days worth.

But, as God would have it instead we stayed up there over 8 hours and did so many things more than I could imagine:
- First stop: Mather Point - only there was so much construction going on that we couldn't get to it and signs were sending us on a detour. I wasn't too sure about hiking too far with Katharine, so we hopped on a tram to Yavapi Point. First view of the Canyon was just AWESOME! Beautiful colors, pine trees going down the side, I must have taken about 50 pictures right there.


We hop the tram back to Mather Point and go to the Ranger Station to see about doing Junior Rangers for the kids and decide to TRY for the 2:30 Ranger Walk and Talk along the Rim. (I was so sure the kids would get tired or bored that I didn't actually think we would get to it). But now there's time for lunch.
We hop back onto the tram and head for the Malawai Lodge Cafeteria. Food was terrific - 5 different stations - Mexican, Italian, Deli, Grill, and Salads, just a nice place to stop and eat and we did a LOT of shopping in the gift shop too. But it took a long time to get to the ranger station and we were almost late.

We huffed and puffed up just as he headed off so we went right after him. The Ranger walk and talk was so funny! The Ranger gave a bunch of really outrageous opinions at the start, then proceeded through all of the stops to explain until you agreed with him. It was hilarious for the grown up. The kids were tromping along and picking up a lot of facts about the GRAND Canyon - it's 255 miles long, over 1 mile deep, and 8-18 miles wide. The Canyon required an extremely rare series of events to be created, which could only happen again on about 1/400 of 1% chance.
The ranger also gave lots of advice on where else to go - for views, for sunset, etc. Now, I had been planning to leave right after this (surely the kids were tired from the mile long hike, it was warm and already almost 3 o'clock), but the kids got very excited to actually get a view of the Colorado River and see the sunset.

Well, they were being really good, so I decided we could keep going for a little longer. We stopped for an ice cream snack at Bright Angel lodge and headed up the Hermits Rest tram - it's now about 5 in the afternoon.
We rode up to Pima Point, and the views were so beautiful - Colorado River was so pretty. It just struck you of the time and patience it had taken and really the power of nature and God to make such a spot.
Now, I had intended to hop right back onto the tram, but next thing I know we're off hiking the trail. Joseph and Katharine running ahead with shouts and laughing, Grace and I walking along chatting and looking at everything. We hiked the 1.4 miles up to Hermit's Rest as the sun was beginning to set. The colors were just amazing.



We reluctantly took the tram ride back down to the main area and headed back to the ranger station to get the kids junior ranger certificate - but Oh, No! The office was already closed - so no certificates, but they did all the activities so they are Junior Rangers to me! We headed onto our last tram, more slowly now, and back to the car.


It was just about 7:30 pm as I headed out of the park. I drove back into Williams, (about an hour's drive), while the kids slept. I picked up Taco Bell at the drive thru and took it back to our hotel. And after that we went swimming -- ahhh, kids! But we all slept VERY WELL that night :o)